SID planning to appeal Lin Yi-shih case verdict

The unit responsible for investigating former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世) in a corruption case said on Thursday that it will appeal the sentence he was given late last month.

A spokesman for the Special Investigation Division (SID) of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office said that the grounds for an appeal will be prepared after discussion with the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office.

The spokesman made the comments after the division received the paperwork on Lin’s sentencing on April 30.

Lin served as Cabinet secretary-general before resigning in June last year, shortly after the media reported allegations of bribe-taking.

The indictment said Lin helped Kaohsiung-based Ti Yung Co secure a slag treatment contract from a China Steel Corp subsidiary in 2010, when he was a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, in return for NT$63 million (US$2.1 million) from Ti Yung owner Chen Chi-hsiang (陳啟祥).

In a decision seen by some as too lenient, a three-judge Taipei District Court panel sentenced Lin to seven years and four months in prison and suspended his civil rights for five years.

In addition, Lin was fined NT$15.8 million.

Lin was acquitted of taking bribes, and his wife, Peng Ai-chia (彭愛佳), his mother, Shen Juo-lan (沈若蘭), and two uncles were acquitted of money laundering charges.

The judges ruled that Lin’s lobbying of China Steel executives did not conflict with his responsibilities as a legislator.

According to the court’s decision, Lin’s influence came from his connections in southern Taiwan, where China Steel is based, and from within the KMT, and that his lobbying did not constitute a breach of duty through bribery.

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